Friday, 5/16/97 Life Movements DANCE The Movement Company,
founded by UCLA alumna Cassandra Bruno, encourages dancers to
approach their lives and careers with creativity
By Stephanie Sheh Daily Bruin Contributor fter years of training
and receiving a bachelor of arts in choreography and performance,
1995 UCLA alumna Cassandra Bruno faced the obstacles of a dancer in
the real world. Finding work and balancing financial concerns with
artistic ideals are hardly uncommon problems for performers. But
Bruno overcame them by creating her own dance company. "I took a
year (after graduation) and just worked in a crappy part-time job,"
Bruno reveals. "I kind of went, ‘Why did I just go to school? What
am I doing now?’ And from there I decided, ‘Well, I’m going to
produce a show.’ I mean, that’s what I want to be – a
choreographer." Bruno then put out advertisements for auditions and
created The Movement Company. Tonight and Saturday, Bruno’s
year-and-a-half-old creation will present "Things from the Attic"
at the Rose Theatre in Venice. The first half of the performance
showcases works choreographed by various company members along with
several guest choreographers. The second half, "Tripping Over,"
choreographed by Bruno, details her own journey to find a balance
between mere survival and life. Although Bruno has survived as a
dancer and choreographer, this was not her original career goal.
Bruno initially was an accounting student, but her passion for
dance led her to change her future. "I got to this point where I
was like, ‘Yeah I could do this … Yeah I’ll make some money …
Yeah I’ll have security, but can I really see myself doing this 10
years from now?’" Bruno questions. "I would eventually go back to
dance and basically be doing what I’m doing now, just a lot later
in life. "So finally I just said, ‘You know what Cassandra? You’re
going to be 21 when you graduate from college. If you decide that
this is a bad decision to go into dance, then you can always do
something else.’ It’s probably the best decision that I’ve made. I
applied to UCLA, said I wanted to be a dance major, and don’t
regret a minute of it." In addition to accomplishing the feat of
starting her own company, Bruno also produces a public-access show
called "Movement Explored" and a monthly newsletter. She wears many
hats and virtually does all of the work herself. "When it comes to
my work, I’m overly passionate about it," Bruno admits. "But this
is my life, and this is what I want to do right now. Eventually as
I get older, things will be handed to me more rather than me look
for things. Then I can find peace again. "However, right now I have
to create a market for myself. This is what I am capable of doing.
Now that you can see this, hire me, bring stuff to me rather than
me having to go grab it from you. I don’t mind working my butt off
to make something happen, especially something I believe so deeply
and feel very passionate about." Currently, Bruno’s work is devoted
to rehearsing and promoting The Movement Company’s upcoming show,
"Things from the Attic." Some nights she works so hard that she
doesn’t get any sleep. The show was originally performed in
December of 1996, but has been revised for this week’s performance.
"I call it ‘Things from the Attic,’ the attic being my brain where
I store all this junk," Bruno explains. "’Things’ being my
consciousness. Like my life all jumbled up in my head transferred
into this vocabulary which happens to be dance. Those things that
I’ve stuffed up there and put behind in my past, I have brought
them out to create a sort of expression." The first half of "Things
from the Attic" revolves around the works of other choreographers.
Company members Michael McIlmurray and Nicole Genova will be
presenting original pieces. There will be guest choreographers as
well, including UCLA dance student Dorcas Roman who will present
"Bolereando" from her thesis concert for the first time outside of
the UCLA community. Debbie Rosen and Roger Fojas from the Hybrid
Physical Theatre Company will perform "The Comfort Zone,"
choreographed by Rosen. "(The inspiration) happened after a breakup
for me, and I was moving out of my house," Rosen confesses. "I
ended up with the love seat. And I thought, ‘Wow! This would be
kind of cool to do a silly little piece on (the love seat) about a
couple.’ So I’ve done it different ways with different music, the
first one was a first date, and the second one was more like a
relationship, and this one is more deeper into the relationship
where it gets to that mundane state. So this version is the mundane
interaction between a couple on a common piece of furniture, and
it’s done to tango music." "What I like the most about the piece is
that the couch is a symbol of a relationship that is so
comfortable," Fojas adds. "If you use a bed, it’s sexual, but if
you use a couch, it’s just the comfort. It’s not like (the two
people) aren’t in love anymore, but the excitement is not like when
you first meet somebody. It’s not damaging either, and you’re not
arguing either. It’s sort of that middle zone, that comfort zone."
"The Comfort Zone" ends the first act of "Things from the Attic."
Unlike the first section, the second act of the performance,
"Tripping Over," is choreographed entirely by Bruno. However, like
Rosen’s piece, inspiration for it also came with the end of a
relationship. "I had this boyfriend that I was living with, and I
slowly watched it disintegrate," Bruno explains. "I took a lot of
emotion from that and brought it into this and tried to make my
journey in the dance." The dance journey moves through many aspects
of emotion and life difficulties. "Knowing Death," the first part
of "Tripping Over," deals with hurt and shutting out the rest of
the world. It passes through "Disappointment" and "Irony." There is
a section on the idea that society and work are corporate and
mechanical. Another section called "Mirror Image" deals with the
disparities between the way one envisions oneself and the way
others perceives them. And the final segment of "Tripping Over" is
what Bruno calls the "bottle dance." "I’ve used bottles to signify
addictions, obsessions, whatever it is you use to get through this
life," Bruno explains. "It can be sex, money, drugs, alcohol,
caffeine, nicotine, fame, pain, power, isolation, whatever it is
you cling to try to keep your sanity. (The piece) ends in a
peaceful way. You end knowing that it’s all going to continue and
you’re going to go through these things over and over again, but
it’s okay and you can still live life. You can still enjoy feeling,
enjoy being and still enjoy seeing, crying, bleeding, enjoy the
passion of life." From the subject matter of the dances, it is
clear that the pieces are very personal to the choreographers.
Bruno believes that dance is the ideal language to communicate
images, ideas and emotions. She also believes that dance should be
incorporated into daily life and more people should be involved in
its collaboration. "I think that not everybody views dance that
way," says Diana Sherwood, one of the original members of The
Movement Company. "Cassandra as a person and as a choreographer
really looks at dance as a kind of soulful process, and I believe
it as well. So I appreciate the work that she does, and we can have
conversations about the work that we’re doing and why we’re doing
it." Bruno is doing "Things from the Attic" to stir emotion in her
audience. She says that she is not concerned with what the audience
feels from the pieces. The important thing for her is that they do
feel. "To me, if you hate a piece, then obviously that’s a part of
your life that you don’t want to think about again," Bruno says.
"If you love the piece, obviously it’s a part of your life that you
can relate with. I just want people to feel. I want people to hear
my expression." It has taken a lot of hard work and self motivation
for Bruno to get her expression heard. In fact, it has taken a lot
of hard work on the part of all of the dancers. During rehearsal,
as one hungry dancer complains about her monetary conditions, Bruno
shouts out 19-cent Ramen as a solution. Bruno suggests her same
aggressive, self-initiated attitude for aspiring dancers. "Go out
and grab what you need," Bruno advises. "Don’t wait for it to be
handed to you. And if someone won’t give it to you, find someone
else who will. Don’t expect people to hand things over to you
’cause they don’t. If you want to do something, do it. Make it
happen. There’s a way. You just have to find it." DANCE: The
Movement Company will perform "Things from the Attic" at 8 p.m. at
the Rose Theatre in Venice on Friday and Saturday. Tickets are $10.
For more information call 848-5328. The Movement Company UCLA
alumna Cassandra Bruno began The Movement Company to explore life’s
emotions through dance. Cassandra Bruno encourages her dancers to
take charge of their own careers.